The Act of Killing

Nominated for an Academy Award®, The Act of Killing is as dreamlike and terrifying as anything that Werner Herzog (one of the executive producers) could imagine. The film explores a horrifying era in Indonesian history and provides a window into modern Indonesia, where corruption reins. Not only is the 1965 murder of an estimated one million people honored as a patriotic act, but the killers remain in power. In a mind-bending twist, death-squad leaders dramatize their brutal deeds in the style of the American westerns, musicals and gangster movies they love--and play both themselves and their victims. As their heroic facade crumbles, they come to question what they've done. Winner, 2014 BAFTA Film Award, Best Documentary.

An Oscar nominee and the most honored documentary of 2013, this dreamlike, terrifying film asks Indonesian death-squad leaders to dramatize their roles in genocide. In a mind-bending twist, they play both themselves and their victims.